BEHOLD: The old has gone, the new has come!

It started as a perfectly normal day. This past Tuesday I had plans to meet my friend Kim at the park for a play date. So I start driving there, and all is going well. About 5 minutes into the drive the car starts making a strange sound. I thought I'd run over a stick and it was caught in the wheel or something. (Heath later informed me that the sound I actually heard would've been nothing like a stick in the wheel. I guess my engine-listening abilities leave something to be desired. But I'm getting ahead of myself.) Anyway, I was just about at a stop sign, and as I started up again from the stop the noise was still there, so I started to pull over to investigate. As I was pulling over, the steering locked up as the engine quit altogether. Hmmm...interesting. It wouldn't restart. At this point I realized we weren't going to make it to the park. I called Kim, and she was kind enough to come rescue us. Thank the Lord she had a large enough vehicle to fit the three of us! Next, I called Heath. I even put the phone on speaker so he could listen to the engine try to start. "Hmmmm"....he says. I'm sure that sound wasn't one of his most-hoped-for sounds to hear that day. Next I called AAA, quite excited to actually be able to use the service we've been paying for for several years! They told me 45 minutes for a tow truck, but they actually got there in about 20. The car was towed back to our house, and Kim drove the boys and me home and we had our playdate at home instead of the park. So, all was well.

When Heath got home and took a look at the car, it turns out it was not much at all like having a stick stuck in the wheel. Instead, it was more like a melted engine. Turns out the water pump went out, the car overheated, and I failed to notice the climbing temperature gauge. Now, to my credit, I'd only been driving 5 minutes, and I had other things to watch--like the road, the kids, the speedometer, and the scenery. Who bothers to look at a pesky thing like a temperature guage?!! But I guess that pesky little thing could've saved my car. Too late now! Though my trusty Camry has lasted us 6 years, in those tiny 5 minutes its life came to an abrupt end.

Fortunately, I have a very forgiving, patient, and slow-to-anger husband. Though there's been a lot of eye rolling and several comments about female drivers, he's not mad at me. In fact, to show his forgiveness he brought home a little present for me today! It's a 2002 Mazda MPV (minivan)! Now, as some of you may know, I've been wanting a minivan for awhile because once we have Tabitha it'll be nearly impossible to cram 3 carseats in the back of a Camry. But I did not, I repeat, did NOT kill my Camry on purpose . . . even if all the circumstantial evidence seems otherwise!

We'd had a plan of eventually buying a nearly-new Honda Odyssey, but that's not in our price range right now. Well, actually no vehicle is in our price range right now with the cost of the adoption. But, God has provided a lot of sidework for Heath lately, Heath's parents are helping financially with the travel costs for the adoption, and we should still be OK even with this. And now Tabitha can fit in the car! So, in a way, I'm glad the Camry died when it did. But I repeat, I did not kill it on purpose! =)

So, as we say goodbye to the Camry and let it go to the big parking-lot-in-the-sky, we say hello to a new era of life . . . the minivan years. Happy Travels!